San Francisco International Airport has seen a sharp rise in inbound delays this spring, but United Airlines says improvements could arrive soon. Aviation analytics firm Cirium reported that last month one in three flights to SFO arrived at the gate at least 15 minutes late, and that the rate of significant delays into the airport was up about 60% over the past three months compared with the first quarter.
Airport construction and new FAA restrictions have been the main drivers. Two north–south runways at SFO are being repaved and will remain out of service until the fall. In late March, the Federal Aviation Administration imposed a safety measure that suspended simultaneous side‑by‑side landings on the airport’s parallel runways, reducing the number of aircraft that can land each hour. The combination of fewer available runways and reduced landing rates has produced holding patterns, ground delay programs, and an elevated risk of missed connections.
The impact has been visible in recent daily figures. Data from FlightAware showed that 45% of flights bound for SFO were delayed on one Monday and about 40% were delayed on a recent Wednesday. On a particularly busy day, the FAA reported average ground delays of roughly 55 minutes.
United — the largest carrier at SFO — said it has been working closely with the FAA on a “new approach” intended to raise landing rates. Toby Enqvist, United’s chief operating officer, told analysts the carrier expects to see improvements in landing rates over the next two to three weeks, though he stopped short of promising a full return to pre‑restriction capacity.
United CEO Scott Kirby added that completion of the runway repaving, expected in October, should further ease congestion. The runway work, he said, has been “a big driver” of the recent operational strain.
SFO is already one of the U.S. airports the FAA considers capacity‑constrained. Unlike LaGuardia, JFK or Reagan National, SFO does not operate with strict slot controls, but its schedules are tightly managed because of congestion. The other major U.S. hubs with similar tight scheduling are all large United hubs: Chicago O’Hare, Los Angeles International, and Newark Liberty. O’Hare has faced its own FAA restrictions amid construction and carrier disputes; those limitations were recently extended through October 2027.
What travelers should do: expect delays and allow extra time for connections when flying into or through SFO this summer. If your flight is delayed or canceled, contact your airline for rebooking options, monitor real‑time status on tracking services, and consider travel insurance or flexible tickets if you anticipate tight itineraries. If you must travel through SFO in the coming weeks, build cushion time into your plans and check updates from your carrier and the FAA before departure.